G.O.B. Looks for a Long-term Solution to City Flooding

The past few days have been a struggle for residents of Belize City who have been grappling with the sudden flooding in the area. Despite minimal rainfall, several inches of water have found their way into homes and businesses. On Wednesday, Deputy Mayor, Allan Pollard explained that while the Belize City Council is working to reduce the flooding, climate change is difficult to counteract. Prime Minister Briceno told News Five that the government is seeking long-term solutions to the issue.

 

Britney Gordon

“This flooding that’s happening here, we know that there’s work being done to try and reduce it, but the pumping, as we mentioned yesterday from Deputy Mayor, is not enough. So what other work are we doing to hinder this flooding?”

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“That’s a million-dollar question, and why do I say that? Simply because we’re living the sign of the times, the issue of climate change. And, as these floodings are going, not going to improve, they’re going to get worse with time. And unfortunately, that’s what we’re facing. Belize is in the probably top ten countries that’s most vulnerable to climate change. And that is why we have been going around internationally trying to put pressure on the countries that are causing this. Because the temperatures of the planet is increasing. And as it increased and the the dirt and the salt caps is are melting all the ice there. And as more water pours into the oceans tend to rise, and low-lying areas like Belize, especially Belize city in particular, water’s going up. I just drove down north from the street and you can see the river. The river is up. How can you pump that out? And to where? Because even the sea is up.  So we have to try to find how best we could mitigate against it. And and we have to take a harder look, a more long-term approach.”